Travels with David on the boat Stroemhella, having left the Netherlands in June 2011 and reached the west coast of Italy in September. Previous travels include: UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Iran, Dubai, USA, Canada (actually, born there!) and the Netherlands, now a citizen therof!!

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

from the Bay of Naples

Yesterday we sailed across sparkling waters, from Baia to Castellamarre di Stabia.
Four hours, wind across our starboard fairly steady, so we speeded along averaging 5 knots.
Today the weather is brutissimo -- it is pouring, blowing fiercely, the boat is rocking wildly, I don't know how long I can go on typing before I am overcome by seasickness (no kidding).

A short Ode to Naples. Loved it (very sunny that day!). The best pizza I have ever tasted, in a small pizzeria & trattoria called 110 & Lode (the proprietario told me lode meant something like 'laude' so I got the message (summa cum laude!) and Laud and Honour...

We spent many entranced hours in the National Museum of Archaeology filling our heads with brightness and graceful lines (mosaics and Graeco-Roman statues...) not to mention the collection of incised gemstones...
Then, footsore but full of cultural heritage, we took a train back, listening keenly to the Napolitan spoken by the locals -- of which I understand about one word in twenty.
We got off at Lucrino Station and walked back to Baia, about one-and-a-half miles, along a road on which the cars, crammed with holydaying families returning home, crawled nose-to-tail and waved at us from time to time.
And it had been sun all day long.

Very different from today...
All excitement now on the pontoon, two more yachts have just struggled in out of the wind and storm, sails all furled, one bears a Union Jack (red ensign, I should say!) while the other has a small French flag. Looks as if the two yachts are sailing together.
After some manoevring and shouting, the smaller one has decided to move alongside us.

The swell is still hefty, and I thik it's time to stop typing... ciao ciao, a domani.

About Me

Much travelled, born in Canada, grew up in south England, married into the Netherlands... Speak several languages. Husband loves sailing, so try to love it too (!) Studied English Language and Literature and just love words and their resonances and roots and connections... As translator worked mainly in the areas of History and Art History and Archaeology.